WINNIPEG The Bruins will be without one of their signature players when they take the ice on Sunday as Milan Lucic has flown back to Boston for personal reasons, according to a report in the Boston Globe. The Bruins power forward had flown with the team on Saturday morning from Buffalo to Winnipeg, and then hopped on a plane headed back home.

The Lucic absence will thrust 38-year-old Jay Pandolfo into the Bruins lineup for the first time after the Bruins signed him to a one-year deal earlier this week. Pandolfo skated on the left wing with the fourth line at the teams Saturday practice at the MTS IcePlex in Winnipeg, and that caused Daniel Paille to be bumped up to the third line and Peverley to be slotted into the left wing spot alongside David Krejci and Nathan Horton.

Lucic has three goals and eight points in 12 games along with a plus-2 rating for the Bruins this season, and has jumped out to one of the best starts of his career after normally experiencing slow starts to the season.

Here are the expected lines and defenseman pairings for Sunday afternoons game against the Winnipeg Jets that represents the first half of the five-game road trip for the Black and Gold: